What's for dinner? Homemade Pizza

Do you ever get stuck when preparing  dinner? I do.

I used to have a menu planned out but then I got bored with it. I love to create on a whim and the menu didn't allow for much impulsiveness. :)

anyway, the other day, I was stuck and I was talking to a friend on the phone and she said she had used my idea of making pizzas on the grill. Instead of the grill, she used the oven and flour tortillas.

 So, I thought, "hey! I bet I can make my pizzas in the oven too!"

So I got a couple of Jiffy pizza crust mix boxes and added 1 cup of hot water. While the over preheated the dough rested. Once the oven was heated to 450 F, I cut the dough into pieces and rolled each into a 6" diameter "circle". (As you can see on my photo they are not really round!) I laid them on top of the oven rack for 2-3 minutes each side or until slightly golden.

 Once they were cooked, I laid my ingredients on each piece and returned them to the oven to melt the cheese. Probably another 5-7 minutes, depending how well melted you like your cheese.

When I roll my dough I use whole wheat flour to add a bit of texture to the crust. I spread tomato sauce on each one, mozzarella cheese, beautiful big red slices of tomato, slices of  Vidalia onions and fresh basil from my garden. Once they are ready, drizzle extra virgin olive oil on them and sprinkle sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Yum!! As you can see I couldn't resist and took a bite before I took the picture!!

These are fun and easy to make. You can engage your children and let them roll their own pizzas, or to avoid bigger messes, just let them pick their own toppings and arrange them on top of the cooked pizza crusts. My children love them.

You can also cook the crust ahead of time, and freeze them. When you need them, take them out lay out your toppings and put them in the oven to melt the cheese and lunch or dinner is ready. Enjoy!!!

Tereza